Friday
Being the forgiving soul that I am I'm going to take a chance on the well handicapped WOVEN today at Haydock. Michael Dods' sprinter has had two poor efforts back to back now but prior to that he looked ready to strike in an event like this. His run in the Ayr Gold Cup is perhaps easily forgiven given the way that race panned out and the application of cheekpieces clearly didn't suit last time as they are discarded today. The softer conditions shouldn't pose a problem and If he can bounce back to his earlier form then 40/1 could look massive.
In the 4.05 I think FFION is a solid each way punt and no one would begrudge her a day in the ‘sun'. She has been consistent on the whole this year bar one poor effort at Ascot and it is surely a matter of time until she hits the jackpot. She has Mr Haydock in the saddle today and that might just be enough to swing the race her way.
Haydock 2.20 – Woven
Haydock 4.05 – Ffion
Saturday
A belting day of racing is in store tomorrow and I for one cannot wait. The Champions Sprint is the first race I'm going to get involved in and I really like the claims of ROHAAN who was a big eye catcher last time over 5f at the Curragh. He completely fluffed the start which wiped away his chance of winning the race but he stayed on so strongly he managed to grab 5th and wasn't beaten all that far. This stiff 6f at Ascot clearly suits him very well as he has proven twice already this season so I am expecting a big run and will be disappointed if he is out of the 3.
Sunray Major is likely to be a warm favourite for the Balmoral and probably rightly so as he definitely looks a lot better than his mark but I've been waiting for this race all year for ESCOBAR and I really hope he can repay my faith in him. Ascot over 1m on some softer ground is his gig and his form on the whole this year has been top notch. You can ignore a poor run last time as no horse appeared to get into that race apart from first and second and his earlier runs are a much better indication as to what sort of form he is in.
Ascot 2.00 – Rohaan
Ascot 4.30 – Escobar
